day 2

this is day 2 of being thankful.

today i am thankful for dominick.

he is my most favorite student in the class i work in. yet, he is also the most difficult.

he hits. he spits. he throws his papers. he kicks other students. h fights us on everything.

that is until i cracked his code. i finally found out what he needed, and now, he is like a whole new child.

i started to ask questions about the kind of life dominick has at home. he is the youngest of 6 kids and has no one to talk to. i found out that his code was affection. he needed to be treated with love and kindness. he needed to be shown that he is special.

and now that i have shown him that he is special, that he is good....

he laughs and smiles and listens when we talk to him. he kisses me on the cheeks and says "i love you Mrs. Casey". he gives hugs and high fives and is actually helping the other students. he is the greatest.

i am growing to love him and care for him more and more each day. he makes me want to learn more and more so that i can make his life better with my education.

i am thankful that i have the job i do with the kids i do. i am thankful for every day.

true story.

thank-full

a lovely lady whose blog i read often (by often i mean ALL THE TIME) started up a countdown to thanksgiving by saying what she is thankful for. i know i'm late, but i think i'm going to jump into this race. i hope to keep up with it!

i know it sounds silly, but i'm thankful for these.


we had lots of candy left over from halloween. nathan and i, not wanting to waste anything the Lord gives us, decided to start on this pile of deliciousness, and unfortunately, we have the same favorite candy "kit kat". we have been going through these bad boys like theres no tomorrow, and last night he saved the last one for me.

wanna know why? he said "cause you deserve it."

i'm thankful that he sees how hard i work at school, home, and work.

isnt that huge? isnt that what we all want in life? not the only thing in life, but isnt it something we all need in some aspect?

i'm thankful that he is mellow and i am not.

i am thankful that he is calm and cool and i am passionate and a firecracker.

i'm thankful that at 20, i married the man that the Lord made just for me.

halloween.

This is my hound.

isnt he a cutie? he's going to be a reindeer for halloween: he chose it himself.

i dont have time to write just how cute he is at this moment because, well, i have a paper to finish writing and a laker game to watch.

but this photo doesnt need many words.

working hard.

yesterday went a little something like this:

6:50 am- wake up (late)
7:30 am- At work picking up my littles from the bus
7:31 am-11:45 am- work with the littles
12:00 pm- get home from work and get ready to work with nathan
1:00 pm- on my first job setting drape with nathan
1:45 pm- on our way to our next job in (wait for it) SANTA BARBRA!!
4:30 pm- get to our job in Santa Barbra
6:30 pm- walk to the pier for a delicious dinner with my bear
7:30 pm- back on the road headed home
10:00 pm- get home and immediately crash and have a delightfully wonderful sleep

yesterday was EXHAUSTING. some of you might be wondering why I went to work with nathan, and you should be curious. nathan is in the business of hanging drape for fancy parties, weddings, BET awards, the president, Academy Awards, MTV music awards and so on and so fourth. he had to do a job for some conference but the job was all the way out in Santa Barbra and nay asked his boss if he could take me with him since the drive would be so long, and guess what, his boss said yes!



it was awesome. i got a chance to see what nathan does at work (i had an idea but didnt know just how amazing he is).

seriously, he is so professional with the clients and works so hard. by the first 15 minutes, nay was dripping sweat and trying to teach me how to take the crossbars down. he was super patient with me, helped me to get the dolly up and down stairs, and was an amazing trainer. i was seriously so impressed working with him.

on our 3 hour ride home, i got to thinking about it, and i think God put me on that job with nathan for a reason. it was such a blessing to be able to see just how hard nathan works for his family. to see that he is an honest and hard working man, whose integrity hasnt been clouded by dollar signs. he is kind and patient and goes above and beyond to make sure the job is done.

what a blessing it is to be married to a man like that.

good.

this past week nay and i were in the process of getting one of these:



before you start screaming at us via your computer screen as to why we dont have one of these, hear me out. our dear friend knows what bulldog fiends we are, so was asking around to see if anyone was looking to give their bulldog to a new home (more specifically our home). well, as luck would have it, a man was looking into finding a new home for his beloved brutus (the picture posted above is not the bulldog we were looking at, but he is still a cutie!). he was newly remarried and his wife was not a big dog person (can you say deal breaker?!) and was looking to give brutus to a loving, kind, tattooed family:

(I think we fit that mold to a 'T' dont you??)


we exchanged emails and even met the little guy, he was beautiful with his big head and slobbery face. we were told brutus didnt do much around the house, he mostly just liked to sleep and eat (you know, just like our hound!!!). even though we really liked brutus, as we were driving away we both felt this small feeling of discomfort. we loved him, but something was holding us back, and when we got an email 4 days later from brutus' owner saying that he changed his mind about giving him up, we wernt disappointed.

but we were confused.

isnt this what we always wanted? havent we always wanted a bulldog and playmate for our hound? but it didnt take long to figure out the answer.

we are happy.

right now our life is great. right now throwing another dog into the mix might ruin what we having going on right now. we dont have the time to teach a new dog our tricks. we didnt want to mess up the relationship between duke and his big brother hoot. and the best part of it all, the happiness doesnt end there.

nay and i are doing great. school is going well (i just got a 100% on my midterm!) our college group is making leaps and bounds, work is amazing, and Jesus is as good as ever.

oh i forgot to mention, in april were going here:



yeah, life here is good.

forget.

sometimes i forget that i am married.

i know that sounds funny, but it's true. i mean, i remember at all of the important times, (like when gross college guy asks for my phone number, when doing taxes, and on our anniversary) but during the mundane everyday stuff, i forget.

i forget because it feels like i have been with nathan forever.

like a fish. does it forget it's a fish? no! it doesnt even think if it might be something else, it just is. same goes for me.

i just am.

i was born to be married to nathan. i swear, God knew how neurotic i would be and so he made nathan extra patient and considerate. He knew nathan would be bad at talking to people we want to adopt a bulldog from (long story) so He made me good at adapting with people. He knew, He always knows.

the reason i bring up the whole 'forgetting i'm married' thing is because last night nay and i had a date night, and i forgot we were married. it felt like dating again. we held sweaty hands and laughed at dumb jokes and couldnt have cared less that we saw the jonas brothers walking by.

who cares about the jonas brothers when you're with the person Jesus hand-crafted for you??

we concluded our date night by sitting on our couch eating pita and hummus while talking and watching how i met your mother. it was the best night i've had in a long time.

and it might sound silly, but it was a gift.

from the One who always gives.

words can not to justice the thanks i have in my heart that He gave me nay.

Black and white.

this weekend was a black and white kind of weekend. we went to visit nathans family in san louis obispo and had a great time. on friday we woke up early, i mean crazy early at 5:30 (AM!) and drove down the coast with the hound. nay had the great idea to stop off in santa barbra and get some breakfast. we decided we would just get off the freeway and stop if we found something cool, and boy were we in luck.

we found this cafe, which happened to open at 8 (awesome since we were there at 8 and SUPER hungry), outdoor seating (we had the hound after all), and an awesome menu of vegan breakfast and fantastic coffee. we sat outside while it sprinkled on us and drank in deeply our coffee and the smell of the ocean. the food, was beyond amazing, and the people were super cool. we left and continued on our journey, and finally got to nay's dads house where the dogs played and slept for most of the weekend.

for most of the weekend we acted much like the dogs, just sorta eating and sleeping while hanging out with each other. however, we didn't just sleep and hang around, we did some pretty glorious things as well. nay's stepmom karen was playing a concert in the park so we went to that...


then we went to hurst castle...

then we went to the beach and watched the elephant seals swim to shore. they swim to shore to rest on these shores and sleep until it's time to swim out and eat. they are magnificent.


we had a great time.